Friday, August 30, 2013

St. Mary's Cemetery in Marion, Ohio

Look at this beautiful sculpture of Jesus on the Cross.  It's taken in St. Mary's Cemetery in Marion, Ohio.  When I was a child we lived in Marion and would cut through this beautiful cemetery to get to The Park and to Harding's Memorial.  I don't think as a child I paid much attention to the beauty there.  Now, I enjoy traveling to cemeteries and find them interesting both for the artistic older stones, the history you can learn while there.  Sometimes the names you see will match those you see on street signs, sometimes other things jump out at me.

 Look at the dates here, born in 1844, Domenico Sansotta.  This jumped out at me for two reasons, the date and the name reminded me of what I thought I heard a woman I work with say was her maiden name.
 This jumped out, as it was nearby and is the same name, but look carefully...this is a Bronze Star Medal World War II Veteran.  I always love to honor our Veterans.  And certainly with the name of Dominic and the above Domenico there are related.
 Goodness this family truly served our country.  Joseph here was in The Navy, while above Dominic was in The Army; both in World War II.
And another beautiful Sansotta stone.  As it turns out, this is indeed family to my co=worker, so I was so pleased I had photographed these stones.  Makes me feel closer to her, honoring her family.  I was visiting this cemetery with a childhood friend who also remarked about how beautiful the cemetery was and how differently we feel about it now as adults vs a cut through when we were children.

When hubby and I travel, I almost always visit an interesting cemetery.  You learn so much about differently areas of the country, or other cultures if not in the U.S.

Did a little research and found Domenico immigrated here in September of 1921 on the San Giorgio ship from Naples Italy to the port in New York before settling in Marion, Ohio.  His parents were Diego and Pellonia (Pisane) Sansotta.  He was born in Cimina, Italy.  He lived to be 86.  I have his last address noted and hope to be able to photograph the house this interesting Italian Immigrant lived in.  He was an American Citizen.  I think I would like to have known this interesting man.

Related some of this to people who live in Marion, I also learned that Marion had a very strong and rich Italian history...I didn't know that before I took these photographs in St. Mary's Cemetery.

Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

One Room School House, Linn School

 The plague gives the dates of this one room school house, built in 1897, in operation until 1942, and restored in 2003.  Reading various articles I found a bit of conflicting information regarding this one room school house.  In some articles it says the building was restored to it's 1905 status, and others said 1912 status.  Not a big difference, though I don't know which is correct.
 Above the door you can see (click to make any and all pictures larger) Marion Twp. Sub District #8).  Funny name for a school.  Apparently though #8 was the "official" name of the school kids who attended called it The Linn School.  There were many from the Linn family who attended the school, Linn's lived right across the street, and down the road.


 There were approximately 130 such one room school houses in Marion County back in the day to serve the rural population.  The school house in located about 4 miles north of Marion on Route #4, in Ohio.  The school was built of brick, measures about 800 square feet and served students through the 8th grade.
 Though we weren't able to get inside, this is an attempt to photograph the inside, complete with desks and chalk board, and pot belly stove.  It's opened to the public on Sat and Sun from May to October the first and 3rd Sat and Sun of the month.  We were there on the first Sat of the month, but apparently too early in the day, as it's opened from 1-4 pm.
 After it's closing in 1942, it sat empty and was used as a corn crib.  The Hamilton Brothers, Merle and Oliver decided to purchase it and with the help of The Historical Society restored it.  Both brothers attended this one room school house.  Merle was born Sept 29th, 1907 and attended the school from 1913-1920; while his brother Oliver born Aug 24th, 1903, attended from 1909-1914.  Merle recalls the train tracks (interurban) running right in front of the school, and in fact took the train to school.
 The school's been placed on The National Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior.
 You can even see the school bell in the tower from across the street.

This is my happiness post for today.  The badge is link to the month long challenge for August to post what makes you happy.  Though I do love history, and to travel, the happiness I felt when photographing the above was due to spending the day with 3 of my childhood friends, Wendy, Debbie, and Pam.  It's been 50 years since we friends have gotten together.


Pop in Often, remember Menu Mondays for dining tips, Traveling Tips on Thursday, and any day for vacation destinations.